


midnight in harlem

by corporalbrown



Category: Waterparks (Band)
Genre: Age Difference, F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Runaway, Teen Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-09-13 22:36:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16901124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corporalbrown/pseuds/corporalbrown
Summary: 18 year old awsten knight runs away and comes to contact with a traveling band that take him under their wings.





	1. "gonna carry this dream"

when he steps onto the bus, he is no longer sure why he's doing it at all. if honesty were taking precedent in the moment he might suspect that there was no real reason beyond utter fear. fear of his future, fear of home, fear of the past. and he was determined to let it blow behind him like dust in the wind.

so he steps up into the bus and hands the driver his money, instinctively heading as far back as he can. he finds the last row of seats empty and sits down, scooting himself in so he's up against the window.

he's got his earbuds in, music rolling over his head and transporting him somewhere beyond all of this. somewhere where he is safe, surrounded by the rich sounds of smooth guitars and pounding drums. it seems, as he watches the landscape around them melt from scene to scene as they barrel down the highway, he can maintain this little bubble all for himself. for a time, there is no worrying; just simply breathing.

he watches through absent eyes as the cotton candy skies burn out into the comforting pitch black of night, disguising the land in the shadows of midnight. there is no moon in the sky, though stars illuminate the land and give them some sense of direction. he is unfamiliar with the woods and towns they pass by, though he pays that thought no mind.

soon enough, they're pulling off an exit, and though he isn't sure where they're heading exactly, he wasn't worried. despite the dark of the night he thought it looked nice enough out that he should be fine with a bit of walking. then he would find a place to spend the night and gather his thoughts, and everything would work itself out.

yet, it seems that as soon as he steps off the bus and out into the biting winds of the night, he is no longer so sure of his plans. the city is bigger than he expected, and the air is less inviting. every street corner seems to be lurking with shadowy figures, every friendly face turns sour, every eye on him.

he doesn't know how long he walks before the tears start to brim and blur his vision, but he figures it must have been at least a half an hour. he just kept turning corners to find the same places he just saw. his phone was of no use - he barely got enough connection here to even load his maps app at all, let alone figure out where the hell he was supposed to be.

the neon lights of the bars and stores that he first found exciting now made his stomach churn; these were just places he wasn't going to be allowed into. and even if he could go in, he wasn't sure he wanted to; they all seemed to just radiate negative energy.

-

by the time he had circled hawk street for the third time, he thought he might have to just give up entirely. maybe he would just end up sleeping on a bench somewhere, begging for money out of an empty mug. he'd seen plenty of people like that tonight already; some were friendly, while others seemed rather aggressive with him for no good reason. he wanted to desperately to find somewhere to go, what with the growing winds and all, but he was nearly sure that wouldn't happen at his current rate.

the numbness had flown away, and in its place had grown a fear unlike any other he had ever experienced before. this was a horrible idea - he was lost, hungry, exhausted, and he was all alone. no mom or dad, no gracie or even travis to keep him grounded. what had originally enticed him had now become his adversary. then again, he supposed, at least out here he had a chance of being somebody. these were the first scary steps into the real world; and despite their harshness he invited them with open arms. well, as open arms as he could possibly have.

tears were now freely spilling from his eyes, and he prayed it wasn't obvious. he was approaching the same bar he'd passed by three times when he saw a group of figures come from the shadows to shine under the flickering navy blue neon lights. there were four of them, led by a tall boy who couldn't have been marginally older than he was. this boy remained outside as the others headed into the building, leaning against the fading brick walls as if he didn't know he was there. saying as he had said and done nothing since they arrived, he wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't noticed him at all.

he fully intended on just continuing on forward, but was stopped just as he passed right in front of the new boy.

"hey, kid?" his voice didn't match his presence, it was far too sweet and high pitched for a man of his build and stature.

"u-uh...yeah?"

"everything alright?" that was when he realized he was still crying, face wet and sticky with tears.

"y-yeah, sorry, just a little confused, y'know?" his voice was feeble, eyes blinking away the tears to clear his vision. he was as far from okay as he could possibly be in that moment.

"hey, it's alright" his voice was like honey; thick and sweet, and he found himself rooted in his spot whenever he spoke up again. he didn't dare look at him, though; he feared it might make him look even worse. "where are you heading?"

he gulped at that; he had no real answer. he only offered a simple shrug, unable to muster up the courage to admit he didn't know what he was doing.

the other boy didn't judge him harshly for this though, instead maintaining his sweetness. "that's alright, we're the same way. i'm part of the full sail band, i'm sure you saw us walk by just now? we're travelling musicians, we go wherever the wind takes us"

at that, he dared to finally look up at the boy. he was met by a gentle face and kind eyes, unlike any he had seen before.

"what's your name then, kid? surely you at least know that"

he hesitated, unsure for a moment whether or not he should just give this guy his name. he had never felt shy like this before in his life - he was always the boisterous one, the one who bubbled over in excitement at every turn in life.

"you're feeling a little shy i take it; that's just fine. i'm geoff, though everyone calls me blue eyes. you call me what you like" he offered a hand at that, which he took and shook gently. it seemed fitting that in that exact moment the light caught his eyes just so he could see where he got his name from - geoff had the bluest eyes he had ever seen before.

"w-well, i'm awsten. most people just call me awsten"

"alright awsten, how old are ya? if you don't mind me asking"

awsten shuffled on his feet for a moment before speaking up, "i'm eighteen."

"i'd swear you were younger than that - but i'm trustin' you on this. so, this must be your first time out here on your own then?"

"it might be."

"alright then-" before he could continue, geoff was cut off by a girl poking her head out from inside the bar.

"blue eyes, you coming?" she asked, keeping her focus on him alone.

"yeah, i'll be right in." she nodded and headed back inside at that, and he refocused on awsten, "awsten, you wanna come inside with us? it'd be better than sitting out here alone all night. we're gonna grab some food and recharge here for a little. you don't have to, of course"

he was just so damn gentle. so gentle that awsten found himself following him inside, wiping away at his face and slowly regaining his composure.

geoff directed him to a table off to the side, and headed off towards the bar to get something. awsten sat there in reverent silence, not making eye contact as the other band members walked about and gathered themselves. two boys came over to the table at geoff's instruction, forcing awsten out of his bubble again.

"hey, blue eyes wanted us to check in on ya. you're awsten, right?" the first asked, his hair a more fluorescent red than he had ever seen before.

"y-yeah, i'm fine." he said, voice shaky and breaths irregular.

"alright, you want anything?" the second asked, "water or somethin?" awsten took note of his curly hair and his masculine features.

"oh, i don't know. it's alright" he said, though it must have been pretty unconvincing because both boys gave him a certain look; eyebrows raised quizically and half smiles unconvinced.

"alright...can i just have some water?"

at this the second nodded, turning back towards the bar to shout it out for the whole place to hear. geoff nodded at them from the counter and turned back to the bartender again, leaving the three boys at the table to talk amongst themselves again.

"alright awsten," the first one began, "so blue eyes told us you're hanging out with us tonight, so i figure we should get to know each other a bit, huh?" awsten was taken aback at this, when had he signed up for that?

he began again, not noticing awsten's shock, " i'm red, and this here is hitch" he nudged the other boy, who gave a sly smirk in response, "we here in the full sail band like nicknames. they're a lot more personal and special than a regular name, ya know?"

"you already met blue eyes," began hitch "and you obviously know us, our other travel buddy is dollface over there. that's my lady." he pointed at the girl from before, his smile prouder than any other awsten had seen before.

awsten nodded at that, trying his best to take in all this information at once. red seemed to notice how overwhelmed he was, but this evoked only a laugh in response.

"don't worry if you don't get it right away, kid. you don't have to."

"you don't talk an awful lot, do ya?" asked hitch, who was now leaning across the table, propped up on his elbows.

"you're bout as quiet as a mouse-" just as the words left red's mouth, both boys looked at each other like they'd just struck gold.

"mouse!" red said, smile brighter than the neon sign out front, "we'll call ya mouse"

hitch smiled over at him like a proud father, "welcome to the full sail band, mouse"


	2. "free your heart"

awsten couldn't say he expected his evening to go this way. that being said, he certainly wasn't complaining - here he was, hanging out with other musicians, getting free food, safe from the cold night. truthfully, he didn't think this much luck existed in the world; and yet here he was, harvesting it all for himself.

it must've been an hour or so since they'd met, and he was digging into some delicious chicken, the rest of the band now sat around him, all joking around and making everything so much better than he thought it could ever get.

they didn't ask him too many questions at first; they all seemed more concerned with getting him comfortable and fed first. red, who revealed his given name was actually jawn, marveled at how hungry he was 'i've never seen such a scrawny kid eat so damn much!' and dollface, who was really a grace, kept the other guys from teasing him too much.

as for blue eyes and hitch - otherwise known as geoff and otto - they mostly kept quiet. hitch was digging into his own meal, which had him preoccupied, but red had warned awsten that he wasn't always so quiet.

when blue eyes finally spoke up again, awsten had finished his plate and felt ready to pass the hell out. he knew he'd regret eating so much pretty soon; he always felt guilty when he ate a lot like that. it wasn't as if he regularly skipped meals or anything, but it wasn't a great confidence booster for him whenever he did stuff his face. plus, he simply hated the feeling of being overstuffed. he must've looked tired, because that became geoff's next concern.

"hey awsten, you look pretty tired" he commented casually, only getting a sleepy nod from him in response. geoff turned to the rest of the group then, looking back and forth at the various faces greeting him. "y'all think we got room for a guest?"

awsten seemed to perk up just a little at that, letting out a soft "no, you guys don't haveta do that for me...i'll be fine"

"what, do you think we're not gonna let ya stay with us for the night? after you told us all about how you had nowhere to go? sorry mouse, that ain't gonna fly with us" jawn rebutted, reaching over to mess up his hair playfully. it was true - they had asked him all about why he was all alone, and he had told them he was on his own, so he supposed he had set himself up as a bit of a victim. he hadn't told them why he left, but he did tell them that he had left home with no intentions of returning.

"yeah, come on" grace began, "we're not gonna let you go off and sleep outside or something"

"trust me when i say we love the company." geoff added, and awsten knew he wouldn't refuse.

"alright, alright" he said, "but only because you guys asked"

and sure enough, he was soon trailing behind them as they left the warmth of the bar for the bitter cold of the wintry air. awsten huddled himself up inside his sweatshirt as they walked, following obediently behind as they crossed the empty street and headed down a side road before coming up upon a deep blue van situated on the side of the sidewalk. it was in good shape considering the crew that owned it, with a fresh paint job that awsten knew had to have been done by the band themselves. not only was there the band logo plastered on the side, but there were all sorts of random symbols and words painted around it.

otto opened the driver's side door while grace opened the passenger's, side, with geoff and jawn opening up the back door and quickly climbing in. awsten had been taught his entire life that he shouldn't get in stranger's vans, and yet he didn't hesitate to follow behind them at all. maybe it was his total lack of care for his life, or maybe he had just been totally hypnotized by the band, he was never really sure.

when he crawled in, he found the inside to be about as crazy looking as you'd imagine. christmas lights lined the back to give them some light, and blankets of various colors were strewn across the floor with pillows as a makeshift bed for the boys. otto and grace sat up front, the van having been started up just to get the heat and lights on for a bit before they went to sleep. awsten saw them snuggled up together in the front, and watched as jawn and geoff pushed each other around as they got comfortable.

they all seemed so close together, it made awsten really happy to see. they were like a little family all their own, which he found kind of beautiful. as far as he knew they were all just close friends (except for otto and grace, of course) who traveled and played music together.

speaking of their music - awsten had spotted several instrument cases stacked up in the back of the van, deciding to squeeze himself back beside them to give geoff and jawn more room for themselves, seeing as it was their van and all.

despite all of them being pretty tired, it took a while before anyone was sleep. otto was the first to pass out, awsten knew because he could hear faint snores coming from up front. he assumed grace was asleep too, because she was silent, and yet no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't go to sleep himself.

it must have been maybe twenty minutes of him laying there half awake before he heard a voice in the silence. the van was off now, and as such the lights had all gone off, so he had no way to see if anyone was up, but he heard sound amidst the deafening dark and knew immediately who it was.

"awsten?" cropped up a soft voice, "you awake still?" it was geoff, who sounded far from asleep.

"yeah, why?" he asked in response, trying to be as quiet as he could possibly be.

"just wondering. wanted to make sure you were alright over there"

"yeah i'm fine, just can't sleep yet. it usually takes me a while,"

"insomnia? me too man. i'll be up for another three hours probably"

"nah, i'm just a little jittery y'know? my day's been pretty crazy" awsten was no insomniac, he was just severely anxious and pretty depressed.

"i get that," though he couldn't see it he was sure geoff had nodded his head along to that. "i'll leave you alone now, try and get some sleep kid. we'll make sure everything's alright for ya"

and it seemed that was all it took for awsten, because he couldn't have lasted more than five minutes after that. he felt himself slip from consciousness, falling over into a confused sleep that he had never felt before. here he was, sleeping amongst strangers in a world totally unfamiliar to him, and yet his sleep was deep and restful all the same.


	3. "ride that train"

he was falling. falling towards an endless abyss of nothingness, the inky black below reaching up at him as he fell and trying to pull him further down, wrapping slimey hands around his thin throat and choking him of his breaths. he couldn't scream, couldn't beg, as he was instead enveloped in the darkness.

he awoke with a jolt, the feeling of his mind returning to his body sending shocks of electricity throughout his whole being. he shot straight up, his stomach churning as he wasn't greeted by the familiar blue walls of his room, or the black sheets of his bed. oh god, where was he? had he been kidnapped? kicked out? admitted somewhere?

his senses returned to him when he made eye contact with those same crystal blue eyes that had left him enamored the night before. he caught his breath, which he hadn't realized he was missing, and leaned back against the wall of the van.

"didn't mean to scare ya, just wanted to know if you were up. red and hitch just went to get us coffee and we're heading out," he didn't say it, but awsten could hear his implications - it was time for him to leave. if he were being honest, he was dreading those streets. though he was sure the blanket of day made them less scary, he still didn't know where he was going or what he was going to do.

"oh," he nodded his head absently at that, looking about the van quickly to spot his stuff. his shoes and bag had been neatly tucked aside and he snatched them both up, slipping on his sneakers and slinging his bag over his shoulder.

"hey, there's no rush! i think they're getting you something too, you can at least stick around for breakfast right?"

and just like that, he was being suckered into staying around longer. it wasn't as if that was a hard thing to do or anything, but it made him anxious for when he would eventually be left all alone again.

it took only ten or so minutes before otto and jawn were loading themselves back into the van, brandishing cups of utterly delicious smelling coffee. well, it was mostly coffee - they'd gotten grace some tea, and had gotten a hot chocolate for awsten. it had his new name, 'mouse', scrawled on the side, and he couldn't help the smile on his face at the sight.

"i figured you might want somethin', and i didn't know if ya liked coffee" jawn had explained, "i know you have a sweet tooth, though" and at first awsten hadn't understood why he'd make that assumption. then, the memories of the four shirley temples he'd had the night before resurfaced, and he figured that was a fair enough judgement to make.

they all sat together in the back as they had their drinks, the band planning out their travels for the day while awsten sat back and collected himself. he needed a plan for the day, lest he get stuck here on the streets. despite the slight urgency of the situation, he couldn't help but wonder what was going on back home. he wondered if anybody missed him - assuming they'd noticed he was gone at all. mom and dad had gone out for the night and wouldn't have gotten home until late, probably the same time he got off the bus, and they probably went straight to bed without checking in on him at all. after all, he was eighteen, not ten.

he wasn't pulled back to reality until he heard jawn call out to him. "hey, mouse?" at which he only responded with a soft hum. "you alright?"

"yeah, i'm just thinkin' bout what i'm gonna do." he turned back to look at the group and sent them all a small smile. he didn't realize it, but he definitely looked a little overwhelmed.

for a moment, he thought about going back. maybe him just leaving for a night would be enough to trigger a reaction, that would be all he'd need to fix things. then again, he thought, if anybody really cared wouldn't they be doing something about it? it certainly didn't feel like anything was being done.

at that moment he reached a mental crossroad. he could give in an head home, ending his little adventure before it began and ensuring he'd head home to nothing. or he could fucking do something.

"actually...where are you guys heading from here?" and it seemed that was all he needed to ask, because there was no questioning after that. they all seemed more than eager to let him tag along for a while.

so that's just what they did.


End file.
